ARC junior
by YAY13
Summary: After finding an anomaly in the woods, four teenagers are thrown into a live of adventure when the adults form a team called ARC junior. They join up and become the teenaged ARC team.
1. Chapter 1

Katie ran. She had seen shards of light that resembled diamonds floating in the air. It had been beautiful, strange and terrifying all at one moment. The shards had danced round unpredictably but still managed to keep in some sort of formation. It had been like something out of a magical dream but Katie Haines knew she was awake. It was real, at least, she was sure it was. It looked real but when Katie had stepped closer and reached out to touch it, her hand went straight through. It got hotter as she broke through the glass shards. She tried to grab one of the shards, so she could get a closer look at it but there was nothing solid to grab. It like like trying to grab the air. Then she suddenly felt herself falling through.

She felt hotter and hotter as she fell and landed on a massive moss-covered log. The log, full of damp, cracked as she fell on top of it and broke apart. Splinters flew everywhere and Katie was sure that things had ran out from the log. The log she was on stopped snapping when she was halfway through it and she could quite comfortably sit in the gap she had broken out of the log. She looked round as she stood up. She knew none of the trees in the wood would be wide enough for her to do that. She began to brush splinters from her clothes, wondering if it was some sort of massive tree that the park ranger had kept secret from everyone. As she looked around she realised something was very wrong. Everything was very wrong in fact. She had been in the woods, now she was in a jungle. Trees and ferns for miles around, no people, no village, nothing of modern life. She couldn't heard any sounds of a car engine going in the distance or the voices of anyone. Behind her were the shining white diamonds that had brought her to wherever she was. She yelped out in surprise as something crawled over her foot and moved back. The large centipede that had just crossed her foot was now continuing on it's way, totally unaware of it's startled short cut. There were vines hanging down over her and sunlight only just managed to enter through the trees. The little sunlight that reached the floor was green which gave the whole place a mystic but eerie feel. There were chirps coming through the trees and the sound of graceful objects brushing against the leaves, as light as wind. Katie was sure she saw something flick about in the trees and heard a clicking call coming from deeper in. There was the sound of heavy footsteps marching towards her. She could smell all sorts of smells as if the world was made up of them. The smell of rotting wood, the taste of it thick in her mouth. Every bit of the place seemed as real as the wood had been on the other side but it was still as impossible as the diamonds floating about in the air. She heard the clicking noise get louder and wasn't sure what to do. She turned back to the diamonds and hoped they would return her back to where she started. She jumped back through the light shards and landed back in the woods.

The temperature in the woods was normal and everything was the same, as if it was ignoring the shining diamonds. She turned away and rubbed her eyes then looked back but the diamonds still hung in the air. That was why she ran, it was just so strange and she didn't want to be a part of it, whatever it was. She liked the way her life was at that moment and she didn't want anything to change. As she ran she heard heavy footfalls through the woods, echoing through the trees. She ran faster and faster.

Logan Wiles stared as Katie ran out of the woods. She ran into him, her blue eyes full of fear. Everyone knew Katie. She had the richest parents for miles and most of the other kids tried to make her seem worse than she really was, they told pointless rumours about her. They knew who she was but they couldn't say a true thing about her. Logan had been spotted by Katie's father and recognised as someone his daughter went to school with. He had been asked to find Katie and had been just about to head into the woods to look for her. Seeing her panicked, Logan wasn't sure what to do. He knew that Katie didn't panic over the smallest thing. "There's something in the wood!" she panted, fear oozing from her voice. She knocked against him trying to break out of his comforting grip. Then a scream echoed through the woods. Katie ran away from Logan, her ginger hair flying about her as she ran. Logan took a step towards the wood then turned and thought about going to comfort Katie. He thought long and hard, investigate a wood from which there had just been a scream or go and comfort Katie. He decided that the woods would be better. As he looked towards them, steeling himself to go in, there was another scream, an terrified call that filled Logan's ears and made him take an involuntary step back. He forced himself to continue forwards.

Meanwhile, Abby Maitland laughed as Connor Temple slipped in the mud again. After a third scream, he landed with yet another satisfying squelch. They had been looking in the woods for the whole morning and the only thing that they had succeed in doing was coating Connor in mud and probably scaring all the wildlife away with their screams. The detector still said that something was here and if there was then they would find it. Connor had been about ninety percent sure that his precious detector wasn't picking up interference. He stood up and tried to brush himself down, getting mud on his hands which he tried to wipe on Abby. "Don't you think the detector is broken? It could have mud in it's circuits." Abby said, jumping out of the way of Connor's mud covered hands. She hit the hand held device with the palm of her hand and shook it a bit and Connor took it off her as if she was a toddler holding a priceless jug. Nick Cutter walked over and looked Connor up and down, shaking his head at the state of Connor's clothes. Although he didn't say anything on the subject everyone knew Cutter was wondering why he had to end up stuck with Connor in a wood full of mud. "We carry on looking, it must be nearby." Cutter said as if someone had asked him what they were meant to do. Connor was still holding the detector but it was now coated with mud like him. He handed it to Nick who, with a disgusted and less than pleased look on his face, wiped it clean on his top just so he could see the screen.

Liam Durrows watched as people in black uniforms rushed round unloading boxes from the three Jeeps that had pulled up on the outskirts of the woods. Liam and his father had barely been given an explanation for the whole thing and his father was clearly trying to do something about it. His father was shouting at a pretty, smartly dressed woman called Jenny Lewis. The woman was trying to calm him down and Liam pitied her, she would be there all day at the rate his father was going. "I'm the park ranger and I haven't allowed anyone to bring guns into my park yet. Just because you've batted your eyelashes won't make you the first." his father ranted. He was waving his arms around madly acting as if he had been asked to give up the woods not just allow weapons into them. "This is a matter of importance." the woman protested. She had given up the flattery attempts when she had seen Liam appear from the house. "We have been given government permission to bring guns onto this sight." handing him a sheet of paper. "It is due to the thought that a dangerous and rabid dog has made it's home in the woods, threatening the lives of all the animals."

"I don't care! I'm not letting you wander in and wreck the woods!" Liam's father shouted. His father waved the paper around madly and hadn't even bother to read it. Liam could tell how keen the woman was about bring the weapons into the woods but he understood why his father wanted to woods kept safe. Liam's mother and father had met in the wood, it meant that much to the family. His father had been working on spotting foxes when Liam's mother had come running past, chasing after her pet dog. His father had helped her catch the dog and the two had got talking and had fallen in love. It meant even more because Liam's mother had died two years ago. "What if I were to tell you that your son and everyone else in the surrounding area would be in danger due to this quite frankly dangerous dog?"

"I wouldn't believe you, no rabid dogs have got into my wood." Liam's dad snapped back; Liam found himself smiling and continued to listen to the argument.

After about half an hour of ranting and raving, his father had been forced to give up. He walked inside muttering about complaining. Liam ducked behind a mass of trees. If his father, following the correct proceeder, couldn't do something to protect the woods then Liam hoped he could. He watched as Jenny turned to the men who were unloading the things and told them to carry on. Then Jenny walked triumphantly away. Liam decided to follow here to wherever she was going. It had to be somewhere important. Carefully the boy climbed through the undergrowth. He kept thinking that his blonde hair would give him away but every time Jenny looked round, she missed him. Liam still felt a bit worried. He wasn't sure whether he could be punished for following the woman and he didn't really want to be caught and find out.

Keeping to the shadows, Liam watched as the woman walked over to a young woman with platinum blonde hair and her companion, a young man with messy black hair. The man was coated with a thick layer of mud which made Liam wonder what they had been doing. They clearly didn't look like the type of people Liam expected to be working for the government, let alone the type of people the government would trust with guns. "You're free to bring in the guns." Jenny said. The young man looked excited but a man in a green jacket about 10 meters away looked back and shook his head. The man seemed to be the leader of the group and seemed to be a bit more at home in the woods. He had blonde-brown hair and seemed to one of the people who, in movies, became heroes by force. "Not you." he said bluntly. The young man moaned and turned away. "Abby, you go get a gun." The young man turned and smiled, beginning to walk away. "Don't even think about it, Connor." the man ordered without even having to look. Rumbled, the young man frowned and turned back to the woman who gave him an unsympathetic smile. The woman walked towards Liam and he tried to hide but there was no way he could hide from her. The trees gave him no cover as the woman walked forwards.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to magicshadow1 and Emilie for the reviews!**

Logan walked into the woods. He didn't know why he was walking into the woods but he felt as if it was a horror movie. He couldn't stop his legs from walking forwards but he knew he had to turn back. He wondered briefly if he could make himself walk out of the woods but his curiosity drew him forwards. It wasn't like it would get dark soon and he knew that he wasn't far away from help but something felt different about the woods. It wasn't that they scared him, everyone in the village was used to the woods and most, if not all, of the people knew their way round. It was more about something inside the woods, someone or something, hunting him down, stalking him. He heard a twig snapping behind him. A rustle of leaves when there wasn't any wind. He didn't think it was anyone from the village following him, everyone knew who he was and they would have just come over to him. They wouldn't creep up on him in the woods like this. He spun round. No one. The place was filling with shadows, he felt like he was going to drown in them. The animals had all gone quiet. He wondered briefly if he should go and get someone to help him look, maybe Liam would be able to help, he knew the woods better than anyone. The trees of the wood towered over him as if trying to make him feel small and they were beginning to succeed. He had once been scared of the woods and he was no longer wondering why Katie had been so scared, you could think that something was after you in the woods after all. All the childish fears of creatures and monsters lurking in the shadows of the woods came back to him and Logan felt like kicking himself for letting his dad persuade him to watch that final horror movie the night before. Then he heard more noise behind him. He turned a saw the someone disappearing into the trees. It was a child wearing green clothes but with a tatty brown satchel bag. He chased after them. He was slower than the child in front of him but he knew the woods better. The child seemed to be an expert in running over the bumpy ground, as if used to woods, but there were ways Logan knew of cutting corners. Within thirty seconds of the chase beginning, Logan was, although out of breath, closing the gap rapidly. He reach out and he nearly caught the child. He grabbed at the child's bag and the objects inside fell to the floor and the child turned. They glanced down at Logan as he fell to the floor and then considered picking up their things. A clicking noise from ahead caused the child to stop. Logan saw a flash of brown as the child turned back and ran towards the noise.

Abby looked at the blonde boy as he stepped out from the trees, his hands half raised. She stared at him, unsure what he was going there. "Who are you?" she asked. The boy smiled, his green eyes shining, and the rest of the others came over. Jenny looked at him as if she was trying to remember him. "I'm Liam Durrows." Liam said then turned to Jenny. "I know you're called Jenny, you were talking to my father, the forest ranger. What are the others' names?" Connor smiled at him and held out a hand for him to shake. Connor was dressed in tatty jeans with a black waist coat, black hat on and a fine coating of mud, he looked like a student of some sort, not a very adventurous one as well. "My name's Connor, resident genius and handsome hero." he said. Behind him Abby scoffed and hid it with her hand. "That's Abby," Connor continued. Nick rolled his eyes at Jenny and she tried to protest about him talking. "Connor!" Jenny moaned, she seemed used to having to deal with messes like this but Liam could tell she was still a bit annoyed about the problem of letting a teenaged boy follow her. Abby was dressed in a simple jacket, jeans and T-shirt. Jenny pulled Abby and Nick away but she couldn't get between Connor and Liam. "She's my future girlfriend, she just has to realise how much she likes me." Connor winked then turned and pointed at Nick. "That's professor Cutter but we all call him Nick. He's our leader."

"Why have you brought guns? My father doesn't like them. Couldn't you just leave the guns and use nets instead?"

"There's something in the woods." Abby said leaning down to his height. Liam stared at her. "Something too big for nets." Behind them, Jenny was pulling angry faces. She was clearly annoyed about the way things were going but the others didn't seem to mind. "What sort of thing? Liam asked curiously. "A rabid dog isn't that big." Adventure was something that the village lacked to the extreme. The most exciting thing that happened in the village was the village fair and even that was rubbish. "Something dangerous, I think you should leave." Abby said from afar. Jenny glared at her. Connor added something that shocked Liam to the core. "We've found a body." Liam had the feeling he had stumbled into an adventure of some sort and wasn't sure whether it was really a good thing.

Logan looked at the objects littering the floor. There was a torch, a knife and other things necessary for survival in the wild. There were also strange things, drawing pencils, a small monitor, a tatty brown notebook and a book of extinct animals. He picked up the book and flicked it open. It was mostly about dinosaurs but there were some other animals such as Dodos and some types of tiger. He then opened the notebook. He looked at the pages thinking they were all blank but he then realised he was holding it upside down. He turned it over and opened it. There was picture after picture of animals and people. He saw some drawings of dinosaurs with their names underneath them. There was a drawing that looked like a Stegosaurus but had spikes instead of plates on it's back. There was also a drawing of a dinosaur's face and an arrow pointing to a large bump. Above the arrow was a bit of writing about how it communicated. He turned a page and saw a drawing of a grey creature. The creature had a spiny ridge running down it's neck and back. It had large jaws which had a row of deadly teeth and saliva dripping from them. It had four legs and was crouching as if to pounce. What startled Logan the most was the creature's lack of eyes. There were just little circular dips where the eyes should have been. Below the picture was the words 'Future predator'.

Katie stopped running She looked around but didn't give herself time to catch her breath. She ran in a different direction to her house and opened the door of an expensive looking log cabin on the edge of the village. She stood alone in her club house and looked around. The windows were all closed tight and the door was closed. There wasn't a lock on the door but somehow she felt safe, protected by the wooden walls. She sat down at her desk and took some deep breaths. She was just being silly, it was probably just some kids from the nearby town mucking about. The biggest animal in those woods was a fox. She dreaded to think how much Logan would tease her for running away from the woods. They had grown up near them; there was nothing scary in those woods she decided. She was about to leave when she heard something by the window and peeked outside. Now she wished there was a lock on the door.

Liam watched as Abby unloaded a gun from the grey Jeep. He was impressed by the way they acted as if handling guns was normal. "We found these pictures in the man's wallet." Nick said, putting the pictures on the front of the Jeep. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to help them but he guessed it was good enough. It stopped Jenny from sweeping him back to his father. He wondered what they had meant by 'something dangerous' and wasn't about to leave. "Do you recognise the man?" Nick asked. Liam looked at the pictures. The man was middle-aged and balding. He wasn't a particularly good looking guy but he had a memorable face. Liam nodded. "He's a door to door sales man. Knocked on my front door two days ago, selling... um... I think it was vacuum cleaners this time." Liam said. "Michael Jefferson." Michael Jefferson had always wondered round the village and sold random things. The things he sold changed about once a week and no one ever brought anything. Liam watched as Nick put the photos away and went over to Jenny. Liam turned back to the rest of the group and continued to watch Abby as she sorted through the guns. It was clear that Abby had wanted to tell him more about it but Jenny had stopped her. She would have got in trouble telling him. Liam moved over to an old tree stump and sat on in, watching the group happily. He saw Connor smile at him and then the adult walked over and knelt beside Liam, not wanting to sit down because he knew he would only get even more muddy. "Since you're here you might as well make yourself useful." he said.

Katie looked out of the window again. She only then noticed that the wood was only a hundred meters away from her club house. She wished she had chosen somewhere further away from the woods to hide but she had no idea where else to go. No one in the village really liked her because she was richer than them and her parents were always busy with her little brother. She looked at the woods and, just left of the main path, she saw a branch shaking as if it had been moved. She hadn't moved that branch and no one had walked past. Katie felt her pulse quicken. Her terrified eyes darting round madly, she noticed starches on the tree the branch was from. No human could have done that without her noticing straight away, so what had?

Logan turned to the last page of the notebook that had a drawing on. He stared at the picture. All the pictures had been well drawn and this was no exception but it took a moment for Logan to work out who the drawing was of. It was of him. Although it was only draw in rough pencil lines it was amazing. It had his black hair dropping in front of his green eyes, something that it always did. The drawing wasn't smiling but it still seemed happy in some way, it also had a edge of fear to it that Logan wasn't sure whether it inspired it in others or showed in the drawing itself. There was a commanding look in his eyes and he looked heroic in the picture. It still wasn't finished though and parts of his neck and one of his cheeks was missing. It wasn't named either. Logan wondered why the child had been drawing him but the detail in the drawing showed him it had taken a while to be drawn. He wondered how long he had been in the woods and whether this had all been drawn while they were in the woods or not. He looked for other drawings of people and saw a drawing of a woman. The woman was posing and had brown hair. Even the drawing of her had an air of mystery and adventure. He thought the woman looked powerful and he wondered why she had been drawn. He looked at the name underneath but knew he had no idea who she was. 'Helen Cutter'

Liam looked at Connor as they walked. "We've found it." he said smiling. Liam couldn't help but smile back and looked around. "Found what?" he asked. It was just another part of the forest but this part was darker than the clearing they had been in. He looked around and saw a bit of light coming from the trees, another clearing he presumed. He walked forwards with Connor following him. It wasn't a clearing, Liam realised. He knew the woods well enough to know that. As he walked through the trees he got a good look at the light. It wasn't coming from the sky, it was coming from the air low down. Liam stared at it. "It's called an anomaly." Connor announced trying to be impressive, he didn't need to, the sight itself was astounding. It was like glass floating through the air. Liam thought it looked like the pictures of when a bullet is shot through glass when it fractured and broke into millions of pieces. It was amazingly beautiful but also had a terrifying feeling to it. It was almost like a form of magic. "What did this?" Liam asked. He was fighting for his breath back because the sight had stolen it from him. He wanted to rub his eyes but didn't want to take his eyes away. He also knew that it would still be there after he had finished. "The problem is, we don't know." Connor said.

"What does it do?" Liam asked. This was one of the most interesting things that had ever happened in the village, probably the most. It was certainly much better than the village fair. "It's like a doorway." Connor said trying to explain it in a way that Liam would understand. "But it goes through time, you step through and you might be in the distant past or the distant future."

"Why don't I know about it then?" Liam asked. Connor pulled a face showing that he probably shouldn't have shown it to Liam. "It's meant to be a secret so I haven't shown you it, OK?"

"Fine by me." Liam said stepping forwards. "So can I go through?"

"No." Connor said quickly, leaping out to stop the boy.

"Why not?" Liam said, reaching out to touch it. Connor moved Liam's hand down stopping his from reaching it. "There could be anything on the other side."

"So, it can be dangerous." Liam said. Conner nodded. "What are you going to do?" Liam asked looking back. Connor pulled out his radio and put it to his mouth. "Abby, Nick, I've found it." There was a brief pause whilst Connor waited for an answer. Liam heard a snapping twig behind him and turned. There stood the girl, Abby. Liam waved and nodded towards the anomaly. Abby pulled a face that showed she was less than pleased with Connor. "What on Earth are you doing, Connor?" Abby moaned. "If the creatures don't kill us, Jenny will."


	3. Chapter 3

Katie glanced out of the window. The branch had stopped moving by now but she had a feeling whatever had moved it was still around. She tried to forced herself to leave the club house but she couldn't. She got up so she had a good look of the woods and she could see nothing. There was an eerie silence. Katie wanted to break the silence but she couldn't bring herself to. It was terrifying to think of making a noise and something jumping out at her. Her mouth had gone dry as well so it wasn't like she could make a noise if she wanted too. Katie ducked back into the corner. She thought about calling someone on her mobile, maybe even Logan, but if anyone knew how scared she was then they would laugh at her even more. If anyone came she would just say that she was playing some sort of game or thinking. There was a knocking on the door. She got up slowly and thought what to do. The knocking continued. She walked forwards and wished there was a window in the door. There were only windows on the side. She opened the door an inch, she wanted it to be Logan or another kid telling her that it had just been a trick and apologising for scaring her so much.. It wasn't. In front of the door, blocking her escape, was a creature about her height. She stared at it. The creature had a long tail that was brushing against the door causing the knocking noise. The creature was a light brown colour and didn't look very friendly. Katie closed the door forcing herself to keep down any noise she was going to make. She bit her lip to stifle a scream. She walked over to the window and looked out again. There were more of the creatures, about five more, that she could see. In the woods, cloaked with trees she noticed another bit of movement. A child dressed in brown stood there watching. They didn't seem scared but Katie guessed that she wasn't close enough to see if the child was scared or not. The child saw her and walked deep into the shadows. Katie was unsure whether the child was hiding from the creature or her.

Logan looked at the book. The drawings were amazing but he still wondered why he was drawn in the book. A part of him didn't want to know but the rest of him was screaming for him to find the owner and ask them about it. Suddenly he heard a noise. Something was running towards him. He looked around. The child was running at a great pace towards him. He put the book down and threw the objects into the bag as quickly as possible trying to hide the fact he was looking at them. The child grabbed his arm and the bag without stopping, dragging him along with them. As he looked at the child he realised that the child was definitely the same age as him and roughly the same height. They still had their hood up so he couldn't tell what they looked like. He turned around and grabbed the child's hand so he wasn't running backwards. "You have to get out of the woods." the child said. She looked round as she stopped running suddenly. Logan tripped over because he didn't stop in time. He landed in a clump of leaves and mud but thankfully didn't get much on him. The child pulled him up and put their bag on properly. They opened it and pulled out the knife. "Do you know the way from here?" the child asked. They toyed with the knife, the point resting against one of their fingers and Logan wondered whether it was just a subconscious reaction. He got the impression it was and that the child was very used to using a knife. It scared him quite a lot. "Yes." Logan said, forcing the word out of his dry mouth. He hid his fear of the fact that he was talking to someone holding a dagger but he could tell that the child had picked up on it. "Can you get out from the woods without going near the wooden house?"

"What wooden house?" Logan asked then he realised what the child meant. "Oh, Katie's club house."

"There's a girl in it." the child said.

"Yes, that will be Katie. And yes, I can find a path."

"Okay, I'm going to need my book back." the figure said. Logan handed them the book and they put it back in the bag. Logan opened his mouth to say something but changed his mind as an image of the knife flashed into his mind. He watched as the child jumped away and turned to leave the woods. Although he knew it would probably be mad to stay in the woods, he felt himself compelled to stay there. He wanted to find out more; firstly what had scared Katie still interested him and secondly the child wasn't someone he recognised and he knew most of the people who lived around the village. He shook his head and followed after the child at a distance.

Liam watched as the anomaly shimmered. Connor and Abby pulled him back. "Some thing's coming through." Abby said, raising the gun she was holding. Liam looked back and then looked at the anomaly. Something was now standing between the three of them and the large shimmering light. He could only see half of it but as the creature got closer more of it seemed to emerge from the anomaly. It was exactly like it was emerging from a doorway. The creature was light brown and had a long tail. It had a large claw as well a two smaller claws on each foot and vicious claws on it hands. It had ridges over it's eyes and a mouthful of sharp teeth. Connor stared at it and kept pulling Liam back, forcing the boy behind him. "Get out of here." he whispered to the boy. Liam couldn't move he was so amazed and terrified by the creature. Suddenly the creature leapt at Abby and sent the gun flying. Connor rushed forwards to help Abby but didn't notice the gun lying in the undergrowth. It would have been useful in stopping the creature and Liam could see it. He doubted his ability to use the gun himself and didn't even want to touch it. Liam watched in horror as the creature's long tail flicked through the air. Abby was trapped in the roots of a tree whilst the creature bared down at her, snapping it's jaws with the hope of catching something. Somehow Abby was managing to keep out of the way of most of the terrible blows but she couldn't keep going forever. Liam decided enough was enough and leapt towards the gun. Before he had chance to reach it, he heard noise from beside him and wondered if it was another creature. Liam considered turning but he decided to keep his eyes on the first creature. The noise had attracted the attention from the creature and it turned to look at Liam. It began to approach him slowly, stalking him. Liam began to back away as the creature picked up speed. He knew he wouldn't be able to escape it and found himself annoyed that he hadn't picked up the gun. The creature was getting closer and closer. It was about a meter away and it was preparing to attack, getting ready to kill. Liam's life flashed before his eyes and he saw his mother and father, the woods and the approaching creature. He prepared to die. Liam closed his eyes, unsure what to do. Then several gunshots sounded.


	4. Chapter 4

Logan looked around. Gunshots and shouts were echoing through the wood. He had lost the child he had been following and found himself simply listening out for more shouts. He decided he would have to work out where they were coming from because he guessed that would be were the child would be. No more gunshots came and Logan began to look around the wood, feeling utterly lost and terrified.

Katie knew there was no way out unless she went past the creatures. She was terrified by them and sure that, if they knew she was there, they would kill her. She was shaking so much opening the door had seemed a challenge in itself. She slumped against the wall, hopeless and defeated. The child she had seen wasn't coming back and she couldn't get out. She wondered what she was going to do, nothing. Her fear froze her. She stayed as silent as possible, blocking out the sound of the creature's tail brushing against the door. She felt warm tears run down her cheeks and looked upwards at the roof. "Why?" she whispered.

Liam cautiously opened his eyes and looked around him. The creature lay on the floor, several tranquilliser darts sticking out of it. The person who had shot the creature was standing beside Liam. It was a child, his age. They were dressed in a hooded cloak with the hood up over their face. The child walked to the creature's side and knelt down, looking over the creature. The child pulled down her hood. Liam was shocked to find the child was a girl. She began to look over the creature, the gun still in her hand. To Liam the girl was beautiful and dangerous, probably something to do with the gun. She had just saved his life. She glanced round seeing if there were any more creatures. Connor was helping Abby up and checking her over. The girl's eyes fell onto the creature, her wavy brown hair bouncing as she moved. She placed her hand on the creature's body and frowned. She shook her head and sighed. Liam came over and knelt beside her. He noticed she had shining brown eyes as he watched her examine the creature. "What is it?" he asked. Liam noticed that the creature's chest wasn't rising and falling. Liam gasped as he realised that the creature was dead; he put his hand to his mouth and forced himself not to be sick. The girl answered seeming upset about the creature's fate but she also seemed relieved. "It's a deinonychus, carnivorous, normally found in USA."

"A what?"

"A deinonychus, that's it's species. It's a dinosaur and a long way from home." the girl said offering Liam her full attention. Liam felt as if it was a dream, he almost imagined being weightless. "The US isn't that far." he said, trying to sound clever.

"It's home is about 66 million years away and I shot it with so much tranquilliser I killed it, overdosed it." the girl said. She was gently pressing her hands against the creature's neck and chest, examining it in case there was a chance of it surviving. "Thank you." Liam said, realising how bad the girl felt about killing the creature even if in doing so she had saved them. He understood that the loss of a life was bad, even if it was a creature and he was happy that the girl felt the same way. "You saved our lives." Liam said

"What is that thing?" Logan gasped as he walked forwards. The girl turned to him and smiled, trying to hide how upset she was. Then she turned to Abby and Connor and instructed them to find a way of getting the deinonychus out of the wood.

"I thought I told you to get out of the woods." the girl said. Logan had watched as the deinonychus' body had been loaded onto a truck. Logan and the girl were leaning against a couple of boxes of monitoring equipment, watching everything that was happening. The girl wasn't talking about the creature any more but seemed to have recovered from how sad she had been. Liam walked over from looking at the creature, despite protests from most of the adults. Nick was standing near Jenny as she tried to deal with the fact that there were three children standing near an anomaly, one having just killed one of the creatures. Abby and Connor were standing near the truck looking at the deinonychus' body. Logan smiled at the girl. "You did but I didn't listen."

"Good on you." the girl said, smiling back.

"I'm Logan." Logan said.

"And I'm Liam." Liam said as well.

"That's good." the girl said, either she didn't take the hint that she was supposed to tell them her name or she didn't want to tell them. She smiled and Logan looked around. "Where's Katie?"

"Still in her club house." the girl said.

"So those things, deinonychus, aren't they going to find her?" Logan asked. He looked at Liam for a second and then saw that the girl had disappeared. "Where's she gone?" Logan paused, thinking whether they should tell the adults about it or not. "Should we..." Liam began. They didn't need to bother. Jenny and Nick had noticed that the girl had gone too. "Where has she got to now?" Nick asked grabbing a gun and chasing through the trees after the girl who he could only just see quick glimpses of.

Katie heard noises from outside. She didn't dare move to see what was happening. She heard someone shout, "Get out of the club house, Katie!" She didn't recognise the voice. She wasn't sure what to do, maybe it was the person in charge of the creatures or maybe the child who had been watching her. She then heard gunshots from outside. "Get out, Katie!" Katie slowly stood up as she realised something shocking. The knocking on the door had stopped.

Nick watched as the girl backed away from the creatures that were walking towards her. She had managed to get the creatures away from the club house but they had decided that the unprotected girl would make a much easier meal than the teenager in the club house. Nick aimed the tranquilliser gun at the first of the creatures. The girl ducked away behind a tree and Nick stared at her. He thought about firing the weapon but knew that he would kill the girl if he hit her with such a big dose as the one in the tranquilliser and, even if the tranquilliser didn't kill her, the creatures would. Nick watched as the teenager produced a knife and dug it into the tree. He wondered what she was doing. The knife would already be useless against the deinonychus, stuck in a tree wouldn't make it any better. The creatures were getting closer to the girl, who seemed remarkably calm. She climbed onto the knife using it as a foothold and climbed the tree. Nick watched in amazement. Then the girl swung round a branch and managed to climb higher and higher.

Katie opened the door cautiously and stared out. The creatures had all disappeared and she wondered what had drawn them off. She decided to get somewhere else, somewhere safe, as quickly as she could. She saw a man with a gun standing in the wood but knew that Liam's dad would never let anyone with guns in his wood. She guessed that something bad was going on, something she really shouldn't get involved in. The man was pointing the gun at a group of the creatures that were snapping at a tree. A girl was sitting in the tree. The creatures were jumping at the tree, trying to pull the child down. It took Katie a moment to recognise, from the hooded cloak, that it was the child from before. It meant the child had come back to help her. Katie stared at the scene and then turned to run towards the man with the gun, hoping he could keep her safe.

The girl looked at the deinonychus. She stared down at them and raised her legs calmly knowing that if she panicked then she would probably fall down. She saw Nick and Katie standing there, looking at her, shocked. "Shoot them!" she shouted at them. The creatures began jumping higher to reach her. "I don't want to rush you but I really like how tall I am at the moment and they want to change that." Nick raised the gun and aimed at the creatures. He missed the creatures and the tranquilliser dart dug into the side of the tree. "Hurry up!" the girl shouted. Then there was a gun shot from somewhere off to the side. One of the creatures became dizzy for a moment then fell to the ground and the others, scared at what might happen to them, ran.


End file.
